Ecological Efficiency Flashcards
What happens to the indigestible ingested food?
Egested as faeces.
Other material is absorbed and used for
Respiration. A lot of energy is lost as heat and movement.
Homeotherms
Use a lot of energy to regulate their body temperature so have less energy available for secondary production.
Poikilotherms
Such as invertebrates and fish, conform to the environment and do not use a lot of energy to regulate their body temperatures.
Why can we not draw food webs and energy transfers accurately? What do we do instead?
They are immensely complex because animals feed on a wide range of foods.
Energy flow is studied between tropic levels.
Why is there a significant loss of energy at each trophic level?
Only a small fraction of energy that is taken in by the animal is transformed into biomass and is therefore transferable.
What is meant by ecological efficiency?
The proportion of energy taken in by one trophic level and is converted to biomass (so available to the next trophic level).
What do saprotrophs use as a food source?
Faeces and dead organisms.
What ultimately happens to the energy flow?
Dispersed as hear and movement.
What is secondary production?
The energy used to make organic material for the growth of the animal.
